Bloodline
by stephi-247
Summary: They had always been close. From the day Sasuke could walk, he was set about earning Itachi's approval. Birthday Fic for ElfArrow Possible spoilers.


A/N: Finally, I got an idea. I had one in Japan, but i scraped that, cause it was really lame. This one is too a little, but its less lame. This is for my dear Lauren's birthday, even if it was like months ago.

The following quote triggered me:

"I'll follow you and make a heaven out of hell, and I'll die by your hand which I love so well." - William Shakespeare.

So there are spoilers from basically 380 ish onwards. I dunno when it started, some time around there. If you don't mind spoilers, or you have already read it, then I invite you to go ahead and read, let me know what you think.

There will be a second chapter too, nice little twoshot, but its going to take me a few days to get it right.

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They had always been close. From the day Sasuke could walk, he was set about earning Itachi's approval. To Sasuke, Itachi was everything he wanted to be. He was strong, respected by everyone in the village, and all the girls loved him. Itachi was all anyone ever wanted to hear about, Sasuke was just the less interesting younger brother.

He was determined to one day overcome his brother, whom everyone praised on his talent. Then, it would be Sasuke that everyone paid attention to. He decided, that Itachi, had become his rival.

He never intended on becoming that close to his supposed rival.

They spent all their free time together. Itachi teaching Sasuke how to be a better ninja, Sasuke just liking the attention his older brother was giving him. Itachi would take him out, and show him all the new techniques he knew. Sasuke was in awe of his brothers ability, Itachi could always tell just how jealous Sasuke was that he couldn't do all the things that he could, but the older Uchiha just assured Sasuke that one day, he would be strong too. As Sasuke watched his brother get more and more powerful by the day, he began to doubt that a day would come where he would ever be better than him. When he confided in his brother that he wanted to be strong like he was, Itachi just told him "You start at the academy next year. Then wait and see. You'll be stronger than me in no time Sasuke."

From this moment, Sasuke was aching to start. It had never occurred to him. Once he was at school, he could learn all the techniques that Itachi did. Taijutsu, Genjutsu, Ninjutsu. He would learn all he could about all of them, master them all, then maybe, just maybe, he would be stronger than his brother.

When Sasuke started at school, and Itachi was in ANBU, they started spending less and less time together, until they practically never saw each other. Sasuke missed his older brother. He was becoming stronger now, but at what price? He never even saw his best friend anymore. Sasuke didn't make friends at the academy. Despite everyone seeking his friendship, all desperate to be friends with the ninja who showed immense talent for someone their age, Sasuke never paid attention to them. After all, he was their to learn, and gain the skills to overcome his brother, Sasuke had no time for petty, useless things like friendship. None of them could compare to Itachi anyway

Days went by, and as he was with Itachi for less of his spare time, he started to train. He was definitely top of his class. People in the town were largely impressed that another Uchiha had come along and managed to be stronger than all the other ninja of their age. It wasn't enough for Sasuke. Itachi was still stronger, and more respected than him. He wasn't going to stop until he was at the top.

The day that Itachi fought with his father, his father accused him with murder, Sasuke grew somewhat worried. How could his father not trust his own son like that? But from the glint in his brothers eyes, he felt his own trust in his brother waver. Was that man, still the brother he had been to Itachi all those years ago? Was he really capable of killing?

Then, the moment Sasuke found his parents dead, all he wanted was Itachi. He needed him to come and make everything better, just like he always had. He didn't know what it was, but there was something comforting in the thought of his brother.

He never expected that he was the one who had killed them. When he said that he did it, all for power, and explained just how Sasuke could reach that power, he was scared. Scared of the person his brother was. Scared of the person that his brother had chosen to be.

From that day, he hated his brother. He vowed that he would continue with his childhood goal of overtaking his brother. He would be more powerful, and then, he would find his brother. He would find his brother, and kill him. He would avenge his family. He would show everyone that he was more powerful than the monster who massacred his entire family.

The years went by, and Sasuke cut himself off from everyone. All the girls that were smitten with him, all the boys that were jealous of him, everyone. Building relationships with people would only distract him from his goal.

He graduated top of his class at the academy. Not that anyone expected anything different. All the parents pitied him. The young boy of only 12, living alone, long having lost his parents. But he seemed like he wasn't bothered by the loneliness, so no-one ever made an effort to do anything about it.

When he was put in his team, he was less than impressed. This time was supposed to help him grow stronger even faster. Instead he was stuck with a no good, always running late, porn addict for a teacher and a pink haired, useless and pathetic fangirl as a team mate.

Then don't even get him started on that blonde boy. With his obnoxious attitude, and his dreams of becoming Hokage that he would never achieve, because Sasuke couldn't even see how he passed his time at the academy. Somehow though, he couldn't bring himself to hate them.

As time passed by, he quickly started to develop feelings for his team. As much of a pain as Kakashi could be, he respected him as a ninja, realising that beneath his apathetic exterior, lay a ninja stronger than he had expected. As irritating as Sakura's affections could be, he was thankful for the way she cared about him. He would never see her as anything more than a sister, but it was always reassuring to know there was someone who was worrying about him. As much as they fought, he knew that deep down, Naruto was his best friend. All the fights, all the names, even the rivalry, he put it down to both of them being too scared to let someone get close, because they were both scared of losing the other, because they had lost too many people all ready.

But he was too proud and stubborn to admit any of that out loud.

Eventually, he realised how much they had distracted him from his intentions. He didn't have room for obstacles like this. He had one purpose in life, to avenge his family by killing his brother, and if he didn't leave his team, his friends, practically his new family soon, he could never bring himself to do it.

The last thing he expected was to have them try and stop him.

He managed to ignore Kakashi's lecture. Words were easy to brush off. It wasn't enough to hold him to Konoha.

Harder was Sakura, who came at him with love, and fear, determined to keep him there, where he was safe, and he wasn't leaving his friends. But he managed to get away from the girl, before she could pull him in too far. She wasn't quite enough to hold him to Konoha.

Naruto was almost impossible. He was dead set bringing Sasuke home. He didn't try and guilt trip him, he didn't beg him, he wasn't trying to convince him, he was there to downright force him home. The way he wasn't ready to give up, the sheer determination he showed, was almost enough to make him stay. If he hadn't beaten Naruto when he did, even if he didn't have it in him to kill him, than the boy would've made him stay. Naruto was almost enough to hold him to Konoha.

But none of them managed.

He went to Orochimaru, and his years there were hell. He would never admit it to anyone, he even had trouble admitting it to himself, but he missed everyone in Konoha, but the power he was gaining here, was enough to make him stay. He needed it. Otherwise, there was no way he was going to ever defeat his brother.

He had more run ins with his team, most of which he avoided getting too involved in. He almost managed to kill Naruto even, knowing that if he did it now, he wouldn't have to live with the desire to return. He probably would have done it to, had that Sai that had been bought along to replace him not gotten in the way.

Finally, he killed Orochimaru. He founded a new team, and set out to find his brother. He was getting closer to his goal now. He was strong. He was perfectly capable of killing him. And the day had come where he was going to have that opportunity.

There was his brother, ready to fight Sasuke. And as Sasuke looked at him, he knew that this time, he was serious. This time, he wasn't underestimating his brother. He knew how strong he had become and was going to properly come at him, like an equal. Even if Itachi didn't believe that he was as strong as him, he was going to fight him as though he was.

The battle raged on, and on occasion, Sasuke almost lost hope. He had never realised the true depth of his brothers strength, but his determination helped him on, and finally, almost killing himself in the process, his brother fell to him, the life having been ripped from his eyes.

Seeing him there, defeated, and broken, Sasuke didn't even recognise him. A man, who had killed his family, betrayed his village, and almost even taken the life of his last remaining relative.

And to think, that once, Sasuke admired his brother.

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A/N: Oh god, that felt so good. It is wonderful to be writing again. I'm not very happy with this part Lauren dear. But there is a second chapter of it, which might be a bit better. I promise i'll have it up in the next week. ;)

Please review people. I need it =)


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